" Whinlatter Walks with Sherran and Bill "

Date & start time: Sunday 23rd  February 2014, 3.15 pm start.

Location of Start : Scawgill Bridge, Whinlatter, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 177 257 )

Places visited : Spout Force and then the Hobcarton Plantation.

Walk details :   2 miles ,450 ft of ascent, 1 hours 45 mins in total.

Highest point : The conversations not the weather.

Walked with : Sherran and Bill, Ann and our dog, Harry.

Weather : Trying to clear but no guarantees.

 

Sherran and Bill are over for the weekend but the weather didn't realise it had to behave.  

It continues on much of the same as usual with passing low pressure systems bringing low cloud, strong winds and rain at times.

However, there's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing,

so we get appropriately dressed and set off for a couple of short walks in Whinlatter to avoid the worst of the strong gusts.

Brief sunny interval over Crummock Water yesterday.

A slightly wet breakfast at Oak Cottage today.

Even the tufts of the red squirrel's ears are damp and curled together.

After a lazy morning there's a slight improvement in the weather,

so we park up at Scawgill Bridge for  short walk up to see the Spout Force waterfall.

Raining again as we set off up the valley from the bridge.

Scawgill Bridge taking the road on towards Whinlatter.	Our track continues on through the muddy gate.

The river is flowing well so the waterfall should be in spate.

Bill and I walking up to the memorial seat.

The girls walking on past an erratic quarts boulder sitting by the path.

The footbridge over Aiken Beck.

The path on the other side leads up onto the Darling How Farm road where there's extra parking spaces if needed.

Storm damage in the woods.	One tree has fallen over the river.

Harry wants to play sticks . . . preferably retrieving them out of the river.

Fast flowing water and a stick that didn't catch Harry's eye.

Up ahead . . . the path climbs to a viewing platform for the falls.

" The end of the road "	The view from the platform.

Two close-ups of the gorge . . .	. . . with roaring water behind the foliage.

Back down again through the trees . . .	. . . and down towards the bridge.

	- - - o o o - - -   The seat at this viewpoint has a small memorial, presumably to a favourite dog who loved the area.   - - - o o o - - -

The seat was utilised today by Ann and Sherran.

. . . and Harry !

Our short walk brought us back down the muddy path to the road.

A slight detour up the bank to view the old quarry.

I imagine the stone for the main bridge was dug from here.

Chance to extend our afternoon walk with a short car ride so we drive up the valley slightly.

These are the Whinlatter Cottages (available to rent I understand) with the Hobcarton Ridge behind.

Start point ~ take two ~ on the forest track above the cottages.

It has been stormy of late - and that's official.	" Take a nice picture that way" says Ann.

Okay then . . . looking down the Blaze Beck valley from the Hobcarton Plantation perimeter track.

Looking down from the Hobcarton Gill bridge . . .	. . . and looking up the gill from the same viewpoint.

Ann and Sherran wait while Bill and I have been taking photos.

A few well stacked boulders are supposed to prevent people driving up . . . but there's still room to pass.

The whole area is blocked by forest gates down at the car park anyway.

Old tarmac on the steep hill prevented a certain amount of erosion of the track.

Watch our for the bear in the forest !

The big soft 'bear' is now up ahead having his picture taken by Bill.

He seems to have found an old tennis ball too . . . I wonder where he found that ?

Back down the forest track

but the optical illusion belies the fact that the track is looking up the Whinlatter valley.

On the bend the clearing allow a view up to the lower part of the Hobcarton Ridge,

which itself climbs steadily onto Grisedale Pike away to the right.

Last back to the car again . . . I see the weather is no better out of the forest . . . but then it never completely cleared did it.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon Sureshot SX220, or my Nikon P520 digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . a waterproof bag for phone, car keys and valuables.*

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Previous walk - 16th February 2014 - Out and Back on Low Fell

* A previous time up here - 31st October 2008 Hobcarton - Mission Impossible

Next walk - 24th February 2014 - Buttermere Round the Lake